Apparatus for manufacturing gas



(No ModeI.) 7 5-Sheets-Sheet 1. J. GRAY. APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURINGGAS.

No. 487,616. Patented Dec. 6, 1892..

(No Model.) 5 SheetsShet 2.

J. GRAY. APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING GAS.

Patented Dec. 6, 1892.

(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet a."

J. GRAY.

APPARATUS FOR MANUFAGTURING GAS.

No. 487,616. Patented Dec 6, 1892.

A A A l llll I Q (No Model.) .5 SheetsSh eet 4. J. GRAY. APPARATUS FORMANUPAGTURING GAS.

No. 487,616 Patented Dec. 6,1892.

Ieiwf m: uonms PETERS 90., PHOTQ-UTHO. WASHINGTUN u. c.

5 SheetsSheet 5.

(No Model.)

J. GRAY.

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING GAS. No. 487,616. Patented Dec. 6, 1892.

A s N q UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES GRAY, OF LIMA, OHIO.

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING GAS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 487,616, dated December6, 1892.

Application filed May 28, 1892. Serial No. 434,703. (No model) To allwhom it may concern-.-

Be it known that I, JAMES GRAY, a citizen of the United States, residingat Lima, in the county of Allen and State of Ohio, have invented ordiscovered a new and useful Apparatus for Manufacturing Gas, of whichthe following is a specification.

In the accompanying drawings, which make part of thisspecification,Figure l is a front elevation of my apparatus; Fig. 2, a rear elevationthereof; Fig. 3, a vertical section through the generator; Fig. 4, alike section through the combined generator and carburetor; Fig. 5, ahorizontal section on line as of Fig. 1; Fig. 6, a section on line 2 zof Fig. 4, and Fig. 7 a section on line y y of Fig. 4.-

The purposes of my invention, generally stated, are to secure acontinuous flow of gas from gas-generators in distinction from theintermittent flow heretofore attained also, to locate the retorts insidethe generator, so that they may be heated by the waste heat from thegas-producing fuel.

My invention is applicable to the manufacture of all ordinary kinds ofheating and illuminating gas, except straight coal-gas.

Heretofore gas-producers of this type have been intermittent in theirflow, because it has been impossible to control the fire. It hasheretofore been necessary to interrupt the runs and alternate them withblasts. I am able to so control the fire that I obtain acontinuous run.

In an application filed by me October 31, 1892, Serial No. 450,461,forimprovements in the manufacture of gas I claim the combination of thegenerator and retorts when one or both are provided with purge-valvesand used with only a natural draft, and hence make no claims to thisparticular combination in this application.

In the accompanying drawings, which make part of this application,Aisagenerator built of a sheet-metal cylindrical shell 1, lined on theinside with fire-brick 2. It has a charging-door 3, stoking-door 4,clinkering-door 5, and a circulating water-grate 6. Its lid 7 isprovided with the valve 8, which acts as a purge-valve or pinge-valve.Thus far it is like a gas-generator of the usual cupola type.

B is a combined generator and carburetor built of sheet-iron shell 1,lined with firebrick 2. Itis preferably rectangular in horizontalsections, as seen in Fig. 5. It has a charging-door 3', stoking-door 4,clinkeringdoor 5, and a circulating Water-grate 6. Its lid 7 is providedith a valve 8,, which acts as a purge-valy or pinge-valve. Near the topof said shell are placed two retorts 9 and 10, resting on the skeletonarch 11. l2 12' are two Ts connecting said retorts at the front of theshell, the flanges of said Ts being bolted to the shell and the retorts,which are either of metal or clay, being built into the solid masonry ateach end and being of any desired shape.

13 is a blower of any approved form. 14 is an air-pipe leading fromsaidblowerthrough Valve 15 to the lower part of the generator A.

16 is an extension of the air-pipe, leading through valve 17 to theupper part of generator A.

18 is a steam-pipe coming from any source of steam-supply. It encirclesthe generator A and discharges into same above the grate by four pipes aa. (Seen in Fig. 5.) 19 is an upward extension of said steam-pipe to thetop of the generator, where it also discharges into same through fourshort pipes at almost the level shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

20 and 21 are valves to cut oft upper and lower steam-pipes.

22 and 23 are the inlet and outlet waterpipes for the grate 6.

24 and 25 are oil-pipes entering the generator below the level of thefuel. 26 is an oilpipe entering the top of the generator. All three leadto a source of oil-supply.

46 is the gas-outlet from the top and left of shell A.

The combined carburetor and generator has like steam-pipes a a above thegrate, fed by the steam-pipe 27, and like upward extensions 19' of saidsteam-pipe, communicating with upper part of said carburetor andgenerator through four short pipes at about the level seen in Fig. 2.Air is supplied to base of generator B by pipe 14', controlled by valve15, and to the upper part of generator by airpipe 16, controlled byvalve 17 and 21 are two valves regulating the admission of the steaminto the upper or lower part of shell 13.

22 and 23' are inlet and outlet pipes for the water grate 6.

24 and 25' are oil-pipes entering the said carburetor and generator atabout the level of the under side of the retorts, and 26 an oil-pipeentering same at the top. 28 is a gas-pipe leading from generator Athrough valve 29 into generatorand carburetor B. 30 is a downwardextension of same, provided with valve 31 and which enters generator Aat the bottom.

The gasfrom pipe 28 passes throught-he T 33, bolted upon shell B, andthrough an open ing in the shell of l5 across the length of the fire inB, through a T 34, provided with valve 43, inclined at about forty-fivedegrees, into T 35, into retort 9, thence through retort 9 and throughTs 3U, 37, and 38 into retort 10, thence through T 39 and pipe 40 intoseal 41. It passes out of seal 41 through pipe 42.

43 is a safety-pipe discharging from the seal in the event of 42 gettingclosed, and 44 is the water-supply pipe for said seal.

32 is a gas-pipe connecting base of shell B with rear end of retort 9,as seen in Fig. 2. The function of this pipe is to conduct the water-gasfrom the base of the shell B to the fixing-retort when shell B is usedalone and the blast is downward, as more fully explained below when theoperation of the apparatus is set forth.

45 is an oil-vapor-feed pipe entering re tort 9.

The operation of myapparatus can now be understood. The generators A andB are charged with coke G or other suitable fuel. The valves at the topof said shells are opened for smoke-stacks and the air turned on to getup a heat. Vhen this is accomplished, the valves are closed and steam orair, or both, are admitted in limited quantities to make fuel-gas. If weassume that the fire in A is blown from below, the air is admitted belowthe grate and the steam above the same,while the upper connections ofsteam and air are cut off. The steam, passing up through the mass ofincandescent fuel, becomes decomposed, forming so-called watergas,which, escaping from said fuel, is met by an 0il-vapor introducedthrough the oil-pipe 26, (the oil-vapor being formed from preheatedoil.) The oil-vapor and water-gas here intermingle and both pass over tothe second shell through valve 29, valve 31 being closed. The gas fromshell A here meets and mixes with the gas produced in shell B. Thecommingled gases pass over the full length of the incandescent fuel inshell B, up through valve 43, through retorts 9 and 10, where they arethoroughly fixed and made non-condensible, and out into the seal, thenceto scrub-- her and holder. (Not shown.) After running abaut half an hourby blowing beneath the fire it will be found that, while the fire at thebottom is bright, at the top it has been partially smothered by theheavy smoke from the oil-vapor settling down upon and partly deadeningthe tire at that point. To meet this difficulty, I reverse the blast byclosing the air-valve 15 and opening the valve 17, thus blowing downthrough the fire from above. The steam in this case is admitted from theupper steam-pipes and is blown down through the incandescent fuel. Thewater-gas resulting escapes from the base of the shell A and passes overthrough pipe 30, valve 31, and pipe 28 (valve 29 being closed) to shellB and is carbureted by admitting oil into the second shell or into theretorts, or both, and is fixed in the same manner as above described.After running for a few hours the shells have to be refilled with fuel.The combustion is so regulated that the shells will be chargedalternately. Assume it is necessary to recharge A. It will bedisconnected and thrown out of use by manipulating the various valvesalready described and the gas is made and fixed in the shellB alone. Iublowing down through shell 13 the valve 43 is closed, which by-passesthe combustionchamber from the retort. The steam then passes downthrough the fuel and out at the bottom of the shell and up throughgas-pipe 32 to retort 9, where it is carbureted with oil through pipe 45and permanently fixed in the retorts from the heat of the incandescentfuel in the generator. In blowing up through shell B the valve 43 isopen, resuming communication with the combustion-chamber, and theproduction of the gas in the shell B proceeds the same as was describedabove when the production of gas in shell B was described in connectionwith the production of gas in shell A. If shell B is to be charged, itis disconnected and thrown outof use, while steam is forced up throughshell A and oil-vapor is introduced by pipes 24 and 25 into the body ofthe incandescent fuel in shell A, thus carbureting and fixing the gas inshell A alone. The combined product passes out through the outlet 46 atthe top and left of shell A to the scrubber. This method of Workingshell A is designed to be used principally when recharging shell B.

In practicing my process I run up or down through either shells withsteam or air, or both, as desired.

My retorts may be used either with or without bafilers, by which I meanfire-brick blocks so arranged in the retorts that the gas must take azigzag path in passing through said retorts, and hence will be detained.

Pure illuminating-gas can be made by the above process and carbureted upto any desired candle-power.

The retorts may be cleaned and heated by closing valves on top of thegenerators, ig-

niting the gas, and sending flame through said retorts to burn them outor heat them up. The flame escapes by valve 47 on top of retort 10.

My process I compute saves sixty per cent. in fuel over the old methodsas practiced in analogous types of apparatus, as the blows in the oldmethods are always longer than the runs and the fuel used in the blowsis entirely Wasted. By securing a continuous run I save this fuel andgasify everythingthat goes into the shells. It will thus be seen that myprocess produces gas continuously and only shutting down to clinker out.

The oil charged into the generators maybe very satisfactorily preheatedby inserting a coil of pipe at some point in the path of the escapinggasesas, for instance, as shown at 47' in the T 39.

Having described my invention, I claim 1. In gas-producing apparatus,the combination of a gas-generator, one or more retorts located in thecombustion-chamber of said generator and communicating with saidcombustion-chamber, a valve controlling the communication between saidcombustionchamber and said retort or retorts, a pipe connecting thebottom of said generator with said retort or retorts, controlled bysuitable valves, and a blast device connected with the upper and lowerparts of said generator, and valves in said blast connections,substantially as set forth.

2. In gas-producing apparatus, the combination of a gas-generator, ablast device connected with the upper and lower parts of said generator,gas connections from the upper and lower parts of said generator to asecond gasgenerator, said second gas-generator, and one or more retortslocated in the combustionchamber of said second generator andcommunicating with said combustion-chamber, the whole system beingprovided with suitable valves, substantially as set forth. Ingas-producing apparatus, the combination of a gas-generator, a blastdevice connected with said generator, a gas connection to a secondgas-generator, said second gasgenerator, one or more retorts located inthe combustion-chamber of said generator and communicating with saidcombustion-chamber, a valve controlling the communication between saidcombustion-chamber and said retort or retorts, a pipe connecting thebottom of said generator with said retort or retorts, controlled bysuitable valves, and a blast device connected with the upper and lowerparts of said generator, and valves in said blast connections,substantially as set forth.

4. In gas-producing apparatus, the combination of a gas-generator,ablast device connected with said generator, a gas connection to asecond gas-generator, said second gasgenerator, one or more retortslocated in the combustion-chamber of said second generator andcommunicating with said combustionchamber, and a valve controlling thecommunication between said retort or retorts and the combustion-chamber,substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 25th day of May,A. D. 1892.

JAMES GRAY. Witnesses:

WM. L. PIERCE, GEORGE R. WATERS.

